Medical Tourism

Definition. The flow of people traveling from their own country to other countries in an action(s) to get good health care is called “medical tourism”. Why “tourism”? Because the travel to and from the other country is sometimes accompanied by touring sites of another country(s). However, the motivation for such travel is primarily due to conditions within the patient’s country, such as the extremely high cost of health care in the United States.

Patients Out. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. patients have been and are going to other countries to purchase good health care at a much lower price than in the United States.

Patients In. Similarly, hundreds of thousands of patients in other countries come to the United States to get specific kinds of health care services that might not be available in their country or any other country.

Cost Benefits. Many employers and health insurance companies are increasingly considering having their employees and their insured patients go out of the United States for health care. The cost reduction for one medical tourism trip generally pays for all the travel expenses for the patient and a travel / support companion with money left over.

Data / further details / promotion not at this website

We deliberately do not supply and maintain either data or references about medical tourism at this website.

You will find little or no data here for these reasons:

— It is not our purpose to promote medical tourism. Our purpose is to help get health care system for all within the United States, not help guide U.S. citizens to leave our health care system.

— The numbers and the estimates for projected growth change vary dramatically due to this rapidly evolving industry.

— Disadvantages for the United States and the world. There are advantages and disadvantages to medical tourism for an individual patient; those are not covered at this website. However, there are the following disadvantages for Americans and America:

A negative impact on businesses and jobs. Medical tourism activities are causing competition for keeping U.S. jobs and businesses in the United States that are directly and indirectly related to health care facilities. That is, the jobs and businesses that directly and indirectly support the operation of health care facilities and activities. The more patients that get health care services in the United States, the bigger the contribution to having U.S. businesses and U.S. jobs grow instead of shrink.

A contribution to MORE complexity within how Americans pay for heatlh care.

A negative environment impact due to hundreds of thousands of patients traveling across countries instead of getting care in their own country.

A contribution to possible increased injustice to the poorest of the poor among all countries. Perhaps countries should primarily strive to cover all their people in their own country, instead of focusing on those who can afford to travel from other countries.

Need for Action

We share with you this page of information about medical tourism as a motivating “call to action”: not to encourage you to travel away from the United States for health care at a low cost, but to encourage you to help get a new way to pay for health care [improved Medicare for All]that will …

… allow ALL Americans to have health care.… reduce the cost of health care for Americans and America.… contribute, via the reduced costs, to having U.S. businesses be more competitive in ALL industries, including medical tourism.

Americans can learn at this website and sign-up at this website. We promote the implementation of single-payer health care, improved Medicare for All, which will be a positive impact on employment opportunities and health care peace of mind for ALL Americans. Consider these activities as caring and patriotic actions.

Need: Lower Health Care Cost per Person. Since the major factor for medical tourism from the United States to other countries is cost, the keeping of the affected U.S. businesses and jobs is dependent on accomplishing a dramatic lowing health care costs. The resulting lower costs for health care services will not only help the U.S. be competitive within the medical tourism industry, but also across all industries.